Sensitive to Odors
by Bvv31389
Summary: Ruby/Belle, somewhat prompted by tumblr: "headcanon ruby keeps a pair of belle's panties to use as a masturbatory aid when she's in heat"


Set after _The Crocodile_. Is that ship officially called Red Beauty now because I'd like Red Belle better.

* * *

It started when Ruby showed up at the dusty library with an icy pitcher of Granny's iced tea and a blinding smile.

Belle had moved her few belongings into the small apartment meant for the library's caretaker the day before, profusely thanking Ruby for all of her help and promising to come back often. Thoughts of her and how she was doing had kept running through Ruby's mind ever since, and that's what had pushed her into visiting the library on her next day off, Belle's newly-discovered favourite drink in hand.

Ruby pushed the door open and a bell chimed. Belle's voice came from behind some shelves. "I'm sorry, but we're not open y— hi! What are you doing here?"

Ruby ignored the little flip her stomach made when Belle's polite smile turned into a genuine grin that lit up her entire face when she rounded the shelf's corner and saw Ruby. "Weeeell, today's my day off, and putting an entire library back on its feet, especially after it's been closed so long, is a lot of work, right? Figured maybe you'd like some help." She raised the pitcher of iced tea in front of her. "I brought refreshments."

"I would love some help, thank you! There is so much to do." Belle came to stand in front of Ruby and took the pitcher from her hands, fingers brushing against hers. "Let me put this in the small fridge behind the counter—I just plugged it in this morning—and we can start. I'm still just working on cleaning the place. There is so much dust! But I think I can do it. I _know_ I can make this work." She came back from the front desk and smiled softly at Ruby, whose heart had swelled in satisfaction at hearing the drive in the other young woman's voice. "Thank you for pointing me in this direction. I think I've finally found something to do that makes me feel complete. Thank you so much."

Belle reached out and took Ruby's hand, squeezing it gently, and Ruby shook her head, wondering if her own smile was ever going to leave her face. "Don't mention it. Let's get dusting! The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get on the next thing to do."

Belle laughed and led her to the farthest corner of the room, where she had laid out all the cleaning supplies she could find. She hadn't exaggerated the state of the abandoned library and by the time lunch rolled around, they had lost count of how many times the dust had sent Ruby into a sneezing fit. ("I have a sensitive nose!" she pouted to Belle, who was giggling at what she called "the cutest sneezes I have ever heard!") After finishing wiping down yet another emptied shelf (Belle had put all the books in boxes already, waiting to be sorted and restored), Ruby looked at the clock and announced she was going to go get them food from Granny's. She took the now-empty pitcher with her to fill it back up and left with a promise to be back soon.

By the time she came back with a brown paper bag and more iced tea, Belle had cleaned out the front desk and brought two stools over for them to take a break and enjoy their lunch. Ruby set the paper bag down on the counter and took out two wrapped burgers and a small bag of fries. Belle, who was pouring their drinks in plastic cups, paused. "Are those… hamburgers?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. You've never had them either, right? They're a pretty good lunch for days like this, when you're moving or cleaning an entire library." She looked up at Belle, who was staring intently at the unwrapped burger sitting in front of her, biting her lip and eyes occasionally flitting to the window in thought. "Um, if you don't want to try it, pizza is also a decent lunch for cleaning days. I could—"

"No. It's not that. It's just…" Belle looked up at her, and stared into her eyes a bit more intensely that Ruby thought two burgers with extra tomatoes warranted. Belle blinked and looked down at her still unwrapped burger, then back out the window again, obviously seeing something that wasn't there. She then looked back at Ruby with an unreadable look on her face. "I guess you're just fated to introduce me to new things, aren't you?"

Ruby swallowed hard at the soft, oddly intimate tone Belle had used and smiled tremulously. "It's what I'm here for."

Belle smiled softly and finally reached out for her burger. They ate their lunch in a oddly tense silence. The tension almost completely dissipated by the time they went back to work however, slipping back into the morning's easy camaraderie, but it never completely left, leaving Ruby slightly unsettled as Belle hugged her goodbye and thanked her for her help when she left that evening. She spent most of the night lying awake in bed, replaying the looks Belle sent her in her head.

She returned to the library after work the next day, finding that Belle had almost completely finished cleaning everything and had started sorting through the boxes of books, regretfully throwing away those that were too damaged to be restored and putting the others in yet more boxes. She welcomed Ruby (and the pizza and iced tea she brought) with the same genuine smile she had the day before, and once they finished eating and cleaning up after themselves they settled down to continue working.

The rest of the week was spent in much the same manner, with Ruby popping in after work with food and spending the evening helping out. They were making good progress on getting the library functional again. They chatted about everything and nothing, Ruby listening to Belle talk about the small budget the currently leaderless city council had given her to restore old books and buy new ones, Belle listening to Ruby talk about remembering being a wolf in the Enchanted Forest and struggling to reconcile those memories with the lack of wolf she felt in this world. Ruby sometimes caught herself staring at Belle's fingers and the elegant, _tender_ way she handled books. Sometimes _Belle_ caught her staring and the knowing look she sent her made Ruby look away, feeling flustered and like they were toeing some invisible line.

When the weekend rolled around, Belle suggested they have a sleepover in her new apartment to celebrate how the library was finally coming together. Ruby agreed and Saturday morning saw her showing up at the library with a small duffel bag holding some clothes and toiletries. They spent most of Saturday still working on the library, and spent the evening eating homemade cookies and watching crappy cable movies. Ruby found out that Belle was a surprisingly good cook and watched Belle blush as she told her so.

When Sunday evening came around, Ruby felt vaguely disappointed to have to leave. She knew she'd be back tomorrow evening to help Belle again, but the more time she spent in the other woman's presence, the harder it was to say goodbye. Belle stood around as Ruby slipped on her shoes and stopped before heading out the door.

"Oh, wait, I forgot my bag."

"Oh, it's okay, I'll go get it!" Belle disappeared down the corridor and Ruby stood waiting, looking at the couch and remembering how warm Belle's head was as it fell on her shoulder when the other woman fell asleep in the middle of a movie. Just as she thought that Belle was taking an awfully long time picking up her bag, she heard her come back. Belle was wearing an odd little smirk as she handed Ruby her bag, but she only shook her head in response to Ruby's questioning eyebrow. They hugged each other goodbye, their arms lingering around each other's frames, and Ruby left with a little sigh.

Once she was back home, Ruby headed to her room and dropped the duffel bag on her bed. Unzipping it and dumping her clothes on the bedspread, she scooped them up in her arms and was about to throw them in her hamper when her sensitive nose picked up a new yet achingly familiar scent and she froze, heart pounding. She dropped the clothes back on her bed and swiftly searched through them until she found what she was looking for and clutched it in her hand.

Those panties weren't hers.

She didn't know how long she stood there with Belle's panties clutched in her hand and her blood rushing through her veins. She just knew that at some point she raised them to her nose and inhaled, and her entire body _throbbed_.

Belle had been aroused the last time she wore them.

Swiftly, she went to close and lock her bedroom's door, feeling exposed. She leaned against the door, biting her lip and feeling guilty for what she knew she was about to do, yet feeling light-headed with arousal as she brought the panties up to her nose again.

She crossed back to her bed and swiftly swept everything on it to the floor, where it was soon joined by her shirt and pants. She laid down on her bed and hesitated again, before bringing Belle's underwear up to her face, the scent of her arousal making her give in with a small groan.

Closing her eyes and keeping Belle's panties tightly clutched in her hand, close to her nose, Ruby pushed her other hand down her body—she briefly traced her fingers over her bra but didn't linger, not bothering with teasing herself when her entire body already felt like it was on fire—and let out a long breath when she slipped her hand in her underwear, feeling how embarrassingly wet she already was.

She slipped her fingers around, thinking about how the panties got in her bag, and realized with a jolt of heat to her core that Belle must've put them there. Ruby whined and slipped her fingers inside herself at the thought of Belle purposefully putting her panties in her bag for her to find.

She started pumping her fingers in and out, thinking Belle probably did it when she was fetching Ruby's bag. Ruby imagined Belle hesitating, the thought of it striking her, and biting her lip as she—oh _God_, had she taken off the panties she was wearing to put them in Ruby's bag? Was this why her underwear smelled of her arousal, did she get turned on at the thought of leaving her panties there for the other woman to find?

Ruby pressed the panties to her face and inhaled deeply, her fingers speeding up, wondering if Belle was doing the same thing to herself, thinking about Ruby with her panties. Ruby curled her fingers and tugged, her hips jerking up. She could already feel her orgasm coming, swelling in the pit of her stomach, the thought of Belle touching herself sending her even closer to the edge.

She thought about the smirk on Belle's lips as she hugged her goodbye, and—oh _fuck_, had Belle been wearing anything under her skirt at that point? If she had put her panties in Ruby's bag, then… then when Ruby had put her hands on Belle's waist, the only thing separating her hands from her wet, naked sex was a short, flimsy skirt and—

Ruby quickly dropped the panties on her face, not wanting to lose the heady scent of Belle's arousal and not caring how ridiculous she looked as she shoved her other hand inside her underwear, frantically rubbing her clit as her back bowed and her orgasm hit her, a low whine escaping the back of her throat.

She came down from her high, shudders still occasionally wracking her frame, and slowly pulled her hands away from herself. Belle's panties were still on her face, and Ruby shakily picked them up and stared at them. She imagined Belle lying in her bed, flushed and sated after touching herself to the thought of Ruby touching herself with Belle's own panties, and felt another jolt of arousal course down her spine.

Rolling off her bed, she shoved the panties in her pocket and put her clothes back on, heading for the door. She and Belle needed to talk, and she had a feeling she'd like how that talk would turn out.


End file.
